HK ConGen eyes Poland deal

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To prevent overseas Filipino workers in Hong Kong from being fooled again by illegal recruiters, the Philippine Consul General to Hong Kong is pushing for the resumption of talks for a bilateral labor agreement with Poland.

Consul General Paulo Saret said OFWs in Hong Kong had been victimized since 2021 by a scheme where they were promised jobs in Poland that were non-existent.

“Jobs going to Poland circulated before Christmas of 2021. When we discovered the scheme, we immediately set up a meeting with the Polish consulate here in Hong Kong and explained to them the current policy of the Philippine government prohibiting third-party recruitment,” Saret said in an interview on DAILY TRIBUNE’s digital show Usapang OFW.

He said household workers in Hong Kong should return to the Philippines to process their papers if they wish to go to European countries, particularly Poland.

“They should exit their current place of employment and go back to the country to process their papers at the Department of Migrant Workers. They cannot go straight to Poland,” he said, adding that the Polish government could not follow the policy of the Philippine government without a bilateral labor agreement.

“This is why we want to revive talks on a bilateral labor agreement with Poland for the recruitment to have a formal legal framework,” he said.

Scammed domestic workers

Last month, international news wire Al Jazeera reported that an illegal recruitment scheme duped dozens of Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong after they paid at least 600,000 Hong Kong dollars ($76,785) for jobs in Poland that did not materialize.

Saret said the Philippine consulate in Hong Kong has been reminding OFWs to avoid recruiters who promise to bring them directly to Europe without having to go home to process their papers in the Philippines.